Ohio Fights Supreme Court Order to Pay up to $1 Billion to Nursing Homes

After a unanimous state Supreme Court decision found Ohio underpaid its best nursing homes by as much as $1 billion, the state is pushing back — asking the justices to take another look before it cuts a check.

The case centers on a dispute between nursing homes and the Department of Medicaid over how the state is supposed to calculate payments meant to reward “high-quality care. ”Nursing homes successfully argued the department got the math wrong, shortchanging them by about $527 million in the 2024–2025 budget and a similar amount in the current one. Attorneys for Ohio say the state didn’t plan to spend that kind of money. The Court still has to decide whether to reconsider its unanimous ruling. But Senate Finance Chair Cirino said lawmakers might not have to swallow the full billion-dollar bill even if it stands. He said the state could try to negotiate with nursing homes. Cirino also pointed to Ohio’s $3.8 billion rainy day fund as a possible backstop.

Government Shutdown Looms Oct. 1 as Congress Struggles with Stopgap Spending Plan

U.S. House leaders released a seven-week stopgap government funding bill Tuesday that’s intended to avoid a shutdown when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. 

But GOP leaders opted not to negotiate the legislation with Democrats, who may be needed to approve the bill in the House and will be required to get past the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster. 

Democrats for weeks have called on Republicans to address what they view as critical health care issues, including the expiration of expanded Affordable Care Act tax credits at the end of the calendar year and the effects of the GOP’s “big, beautiful” law on Medicaid recipients.

Speaker Mike Johnson said during a press conference shortly before the bill was released that he views the ACA tax credits as “a December policy issue, not a September funding issue,” even though open enrollment begins in November. 

The tax credits are used by people who purchase their own health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.

SAMHSA Release New Strategic Priorities

This week, SAMHSA released a document providing a detailed overview of SAMHSA’s strategic priorities, core areas of work, and commitment to the mission outlined in the Make America Health Again Commission Report and Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy to deliver better health outcomes.   

SAMHSA’s mission is to “leads public health and service delivery efforts that treat mental illness, especially serious mental illness, prevent substance abuse and addiction, and provide treatments and supports to foster recovery while ensuring access and better outcomes for all.” And they have identified six strategic priorities which include:

• Preventing substance misuse, abuse, and addiction
• Addressing serious mental illness
• Expanding crisis intervention care and services
• Improving access to evidence-based treatment for mental illness, substance use, and co-occurring disorders
• Helping individuals achieve long-term recovery and sobriety
• Identifying and addressing emerging behavioral health threats

To accomplish these goals, SAMHSA will rely on three cross-cutting principles of being data-driven, innovative, and use of gold-standard practices.  There are five core areas of work:  analyzing and disseminating data and research; building capacity and services at the national, state, and local levels; building collaboration and partnerships; education and communication; and testing and piloting solutions.

The strategic priorities include specific focus on prevention of substance misuse and abuse as foundational to addressing chronic diseases and achieving the Make America Health Again goals.  It also discusses expanding crisis services, improving access to evidence-based treatments, identifying emerging behavioral health threats,  and key outcome measures.  The report also draws connections to how the SAMHSA will support other administration priorities related to immigrations, homelessness, unlawful discrimination, combat gender ideology and protect children, and support parental rights.